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Saturday, March 7, 2015

Impressions #27: Outlast

Out of curiosity, I decided to try out this whole “scary game”
thing again. With Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3 out of the way,
“horror” games are apparently something I do now. For this
reason, and sheer curiosity, I decided to try out Outlast. Originally
released on PC in 2013, moving to consoles almost a year later,
Outlast is an indie-developed survival horror game. Developed by Red
Barrels, the game chronicles the adventure of journalist Miles
Upshur. Armed with only a notepad and a camcorder, he investigates a
tip about an insane asylum doing unethical experiments. This week, I
discuss how it both succeeds and fails its intended audience.

As the game began, I admit that it scared me in a number of ways.
The initial scenes all to their best to set an atmosphere of
creepiness. The tension runs high and, while I was aware that
eventually I was going to get scared, I did not know in exactly what
way. For a fairly long stretch, the game built tension without
attempting to cache it out. It is subtle in the way that it began to
unsettle me in those opening scenes. When the scares finally began to
happen, that tension amplified them beyond what would be normally
expected.

Unfortunately, the horror began to fade quickly the further I
progressed. The game tried to give the player a brief reprieve every
chapter, in order to help restore tension between encounters. Sadly,
none of them are as long as that first moment. Furthermore, they grow
shorter and shorter with each successive chapter. Without that
tension, it just never gets as scary those initial scenes. Events are
no less disturbing, and remain gruesome throughout, but the illusion
of danger fades along with the suspense. Compounded by the
predictability of the encounters, horror is the first feeling to get
invited, but leaves before the party is over.

Fortunately, the game offers more than just that. Even when the
horror fades, there is a noticeable thrill in the act of playing the
game. This is because the protagonist cannot confront enemies. He has
no combat ability, so in a straight up fight against the insane
asylum patients will result in a swift and painful death. In order to
stay alive, he has to either hide, stay out of sight, or run circles
around them to get to his objectives and get out.

This means that there are generally two strategies when going
through one of these encounters. The first one is a bit more slow and
methodical, along the lines of a traditional stealth game. Players
slowly move about in the shadows, watching inmate movements and
trying to stay out of sight. Hiding under beds or in old, rusty
lockers can help facilitate this idea. Since the protagonist's
camcorder has a nightvision mode built in, the player has a slight
advantage in that he can see better than his pursuers. In the ideal
world, the player will be able to find whatever item they need to
precede, usually a key or something, and get out before any is the
wiser.

But, that rarely ever happens. As a result, most players will
inevitably shift to the other possible strategy. That is, they will
run as fast as they possibly can. Since there is no stamina bar, no
penalty will in incurred for just sprinting aside from all the noise
that is generated. Even more fortunately, Miles Upshur runs faster
than most of the enemies in the game. This makes it entirely possible
to just rush through a given segment by sprinting through the level,
gathering everything needed before the inmates even get a chance to
blink. Once players realize that most enemies will take 4 hits to
kill Miles, 2 for stronger ones, this tactic becomes more viable.
After all, it is perfectly acceptable to take a few hits while
sprinting. Even if things get bad, it is easy to break line of sight
and hide in a locker to recover for a bit. This is part of why the
game gets less scary, but just narrowly escaping a powerful foe by
outwitting him is exactly why it becomes more of a thriller.

There are also a number of collectibles scattered throughout the
game. By recording events with the camcorder, players can unlock
notes detailing the protagonist's opinions on the events of the plot.
Documents located in various places also provide detail regarding the
purpose of the asylum. Lastly, since using nightvision requires
charge (but not the act of simply using the camera normally), the
player can collect and store up to 10 batteries to reload into the
camera and restore charge. The notes and documents provide some
mildly interesting reading, even if the story is fairly forgettable
in and of itself. On the other hand, the batteries can be fairly
scarce, particularly in the early game, so picking them up will be
almost required.

Speaking of the story, it is very bland. You, the reader, probably
groaned at the premise that I mentioned at the start of this article.
Honestly, it does not get much better than that. If you have watched
a movie, you can predict the twists and turned that you will
encounter in the story. None of it is bad. However, nothing stands
out from other, more well-known pieces of horror-themed fiction.
Secret government experiments, horrible mutations, evil
ghosts/monsters, and other devices have all been used before. This is
also true of the the trope of the intrepid reporter risking his life
for a major scoop. Though players will get through the game, it will
not be at the forefront of their minds once they finish.

That can almost be said for the game itself. It is fun to play, and
does its job. However, it does not do enough to stand out among its
contemporaries in the horror genre. After beating it once, it is
highly unlikely that it will be remembered for long. As a smaller,
more independent game, this can forgiven. I would even recommend a
playthrough for people who are desperate for a horror fix. With that
in mind, most people will not be losing much if they skip out on it.
Though good, it is not great and the players who are likely to enjoy
are just as likely to have played better.